


A Hollow, Rotten, Broken Old Man

by Ekatarinabeisel76



Category: The Expendables (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Gen, M/M, Pre-Slash, Tool is screwed up and he knows it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-13
Updated: 2012-12-13
Packaged: 2017-11-21 00:42:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/591499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ekatarinabeisel76/pseuds/Ekatarinabeisel76
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tool is angsty and muses about the new guy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Hollow, Rotten, Broken Old Man

**Author's Note:**

> I make nothing. All characters and trademarks herein are the property of whoever owns The Expendables. I repeat, I earn nothing from this fanfiction. But you should really go watch the movies if you haven't already.

Tool knows he’s a bleak, broken man, knows it like he knows his own name and the scars that mark the paths and choices of his past through ink and bloody memories and tears. He knows that despite his admissions to Barney, no woman would have him, but he’s far too weak to go it alone, to stumble through life alone and sober without a compass rose or a single friend.

That’s why he’s got Barney and all the rest of the Expendables. That’s why they’re at his place every Friday and Saturday night come hell or high water. That’s why that damn guitar is still sitting in the corner of the room like a neglected eyesore, beautifully painted and pristinely intact.

And that’s all a part of why, being the hollow, rotten, broken old man that he is, he shouldn't be looking at the new guy so damn much. The kid just draws his eye and his attention. He’s by far the youngest Expendable they've ever had, but he’s not some ex-marine punk with a high and tight and a chipped shoulder and some dishonorable discharge papers taped to a dart board. He’s a warrior. He’s one of them, and they all want him to stay.

Tool’s put himself at the top of that list, for whatever reason, he’s not sure. To Lee and Barney The kid is like a 22 year old adoptive son, and to everyone else he’s at least a little brother. But to Tool, he’s an enigma with a redacted military record, a sharp eye, and a sweet smile that could melt the icy heart of a hollow, rotten, broken old man.

He knows he’s too old and empty for a kid so comparatively innocent. Sometimes they all forget that Bill’s seen combat, that’s he’s been faced with the reckoning end of a bullet, that’s he played in the middle of the sandbox called the middle-eastern conflict and the War on Terror, and that he’s got his own scars, his own cold-sweat nightmares.

It’s wrong, what he feels for the kid. He wants him, wants him to stay with the team, to get too hammered and stay the night just once, because one good opportunity is all Tool needs to charm anyone. It’s wrong because, for Christ's sake, he an old man and Bill is just 22 - it’s cradle robbing if he ever saw it - but that doesn’t stop him from wanting him all the same.

Because having Bill Timmons would be like chasing the moon, or floating on the breeze. He’s something to hold on to, something to crave, but also nothing to be tied down and caged. He’s the nicest wild animal you’d ever meet, and he’s someone that gives other people reason to get up in the morning. And after the twisted, bloody route that’s turned Tool into the hollow, rotten, broken man that he’s become, someone to live for is exactly what he needs.

He works for the shop, he lives with the guys, but he doesn't live for anything but art and beers and smoky air tinged with hearty laughter over bloody war stories that really should be classified as nightmares, and that’s not what he wants to live for.


End file.
